Clockwork Doll
by EilanCornflower
Summary: Alice High School is the bane of Mikan Sakura's existence, she is constantly picked on by Luna Koizumi and her cronies, and worst of all is partners in Home Economics with the arrogant and infuriatingly handsome Natsume Hyuga. When someone begins stalking Mikan she is positive that life can't get much worse. Alice High School is here to show her just how wrong she can get.
1. It's Time

**Chapter One **

**It's Time**

_So this is what you meant _

_When you said that you were spent_

_And now it's time to dig from the bottom of the pit _

_Right to the top _

_Don't hold back _

_Packing our bags and giving the academy a rain check_

_It's Time 

By, Imagine Dragons 

OoOoOoOo

I've never been a fan of school, but Alice High School is by far the worst. All schools have their little Hierarchies, their class systems. The pecking order is as follows: The rich kids, the cheerleaders and jocks, the trouble makers, the drama kids, the nerds and geeks, and last of all kids like me, kids without a real label, kids who choose to stay on the sidelines and draw as little attention as possible.

I'm Mikan Sakura, 15 years old. This is my second year in high school, but my first year in Alice High. I was forced to transfer because I was given a new foster home, my fifth. My father died before I was born, and my mother chose alcohol instead of me. I lived with my grandfather for a year, but he died, so I was placed in the "capable" hands of the system. Who still can't seem to get it right. Though, my new family is the best I've had, well, other than the fact that my eight year old foster brother Yoichi Hijiri seems to hate my guts. Mr. and Mrs. Hijiri are ok though. They even gave me my own room.

My first day at Alice High started out okay enough, just the usual, I didn't bother anyone, and they didn't really bother me. Of course there was the usual hassle of having to stand up at the front of each class and say my name, but I had rehearsed that pretty well, things went good, boring but good, until lunch.

"Hey! You're Mikan right?" two girls, one with fluffy pink hair and the other with straight blue hair waved me over to sit by them. I slid in nervously, I had never been very good with people, but these two looked alright.

"Um, yeah, Sakura Mikan, nice to meet you." I smiled a little awkwardly, really just an odd upward mouth twitch.

"Umenomiya Anna." Said the pink haired one with a genuine smile, the blue haired one smiled too.

"I'm Ogasawara Nonoko."

"Can we call you Mikan?" asked Anna. I nodded and smiled, it was good to make friends. I wasn't terribly adept at it, I usually kept to myself, but Anna and Nonoko were sweet, and friendly. We sat and talked over lunch, nothing serious, I was rather enjoying myself until something cold and wet got dumped on my head. I looked up into the smirking face of a rather pretty blonde girl, she dropped her empty soda can (it's contents having been poured on my head.) into my lap.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said, sarcasm dripping like venom from her tongue.

"My mistake." I shook my head like a dog, spraying her with soda and stood up, smiling just as sarcastically.

"Oh no! _I'm _sorry, quite reckless of me really." Anna and Nonoko looked at each other with wide eyes. The girl looked absolutely livid. I only smiled wider.

"I'm Sakura Mikan, a pleasure I'm sure." The girl pulled back her perfectly painted lips into an ugly snarl.

"Koizumi Luna."


	2. Ocean Avenue

**Chapter Two**

**Ocean Avenue **

_If I could find you now things would get better _

_We could leave this town and run forever _

_I know someway somehow we'll be together _

_Let your waves crash down on me _

_And take me away_

_Ocean Avenue 

By, Yellowcard 

OoOoOoOo

Picking a fight with Koizumi turned out to be one of my fatal mistakes; Koizumi was at the very top of the pecking order, one of the rich kids. And not only was she capable, she was perfectly willing to make my life a living hell. Anna and Nonoko explained it to me after she had left. I was screwed, and they were sorry for me.

"Your first day and you've already became Koizumi's worst enemy." Said Anna quietly as she helped me scrub the remaining soda out of my hair over the bathroom sink.

"What was her deal anyways; I haven't ever seen her in my life, why did she decide to dump her soda on me?" I asked, ducking under the fan.

"Koizumi always hazes the new kids, unless they're rich or handsome." Said Nonoko with a roll of her eyes.

"She went after us too, but that was a year ago." Said Anna, handing me a wad of paper towels.

"What year is she?" I asked, wiping the remaining water droplets off of my forehead.

"She's a Junior I believe." Said Nonoko. I sighed, and tied my damp hair into a bun.

"Looks like I've got my work cut out for me huh?"

OoOoOoOo

Next class was Home Economics, something that I was usually fairly good at. I picked a window seat in the back at a table that was currently totally unoccupied. I had arrived a bit early, the teacher wasn't in yet, and other than a girl with black hair and cold purple eyes who sat near the front the class was totally empty. I doodled absently on the cover of my notebook while waiting for class to begin. Suddenly I was aware of a pair of eyes on me; I looked up and into the fierce red eyes of a boy, an insanely attractive boy.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"You're in my seat." He said coldly, his expression didn't change, but he flipped his dark hair back from his face. I gave him an incredulous look.

"I wasn't aware there were assigned spots." I said, not moving from my spot. The boy grimaced.

"Will you just move?" he said, he sounded slightly annoyed, I know noticed more than one pair of eyes on me, including the eyes of Luna Koizumi who had just entered and stood by the door, looking at me with a wicked glimmer in her eyes. I turned my attention back to the boy who was glaring at me with undisguised malice.

"Look." I said, shooting him a pointed glare.

"I've put up with a lot of crap I shouldn't have had to put up with. So if you would kindly move along, that would be great, I'm sitting here today, maybe you can have this spot tomorrow." With a final look of exasperation I went back to my notebook. The boy said nothing more, but pulled out the chair next to me and sat down, keeping his eyes on me the entire time. I made it my personal mission to ignore him, but he wasn't deterred, he kept glaring holes into me as I doodled. Finally, about ten minutes late, the teacher walked in. He was a young man, not nearly as handsome as the boy beside me, but still good looking. With violet blue eyes and long-ish blonde hair, he had a feminine quality about him, a sort of grace that most males didn't possess. I liked him immediately. His eyes fell on me and he smiled.

"You're the new student right? Sakura Mikan?" he asked. I nodded and proffered a nervous smile. He came to my desk and extended his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Mr. Narumi, the Home Economics teacher." His eyes slid over to the boy next to me.

"I see you've met Mr. Hyuga." He smiled at the boy who simply rolled his red eyes. Mr. Narumi's smile only widened.

"Unfortunately." I said, before remembering I was talking to a teacher. Mr. Narumi only laughed, keeping his eyes on the Hyuga boy.

"He can be quite a handful, but he's brilliant and actually a lot nicer than he'd like other to believe." The Hyuga boy was glaring full force at Mr. Narumi; you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Mr. Narumi chuckled and made his way to the front desk.

"Alright, we're picking partners." He said. The class groaned, he just smiled. I looked at the Hyuga boy out of the corner of my eye. I hadn't noticed it, but Koizumi was sitting next to him, gazing at him with something akin to adoration. _Ah, so she likes him. _I thought to myself. _Seems appropriate somehow._ Mr. Narumi was calling out names at the front of the class, pairings were boy/girl and he was working his way from the front, starting with "Imai" the purple eyed girl, being partnered with "Nogi" an attractive blond haired boy. _Why didn't I choose to sit next to him? _I thought scowling. Mr. Narumi finally got to the back row, pairing Luna up with a spiky haired blond boy who looked friendly enough his name was Kitsuneme I immediately felt bad for him. I felt worse for myself a minute later when I was paired up with the Hyuga boy. Koizumi looked absolutely furious about this, I shook my head. This was going to be a long school year.


	3. Jack's Lament

**Chapter Three**

**Jack's Lament**

_Oh somewhere deep inside of these bones _

_An emptiness began to grow_

_Theres something out there, far from my home_

_A longing that I've never known_

_Jack's Lament 

By, All American Rejects

OoOoOoOo

Natsume stared at the new girl out of the corner of his eyes. Sakura Mikan, he had heard Koizumi talking about her, she had apparently made a bad impression on her. Something he commended her for. However he didn't approve of the way she handled him, most girls were in awe of him. He was attractive and rich, athletic, good in classes, he wasn't really a people person, but his godlike looks more than made up for that. At least in the minds of most of the girls he dealt with, it was fairly easy to get what he wanted. But this girl, she had barely given him a second glance. This both fascinated and infuriated him. When Narumi made them partners he couldn't help the swell of excitement at the prospect of learning Mikan's secrets. And he was more than a little intrigued by her reaction to being partnered with him, a groan and a resigned sigh, definitely not what he was used to. She turned to him with a bored look, her hand on her chin. Now that he looked at her, she was attractive, nothing _special_. Not breathtaking like Luna or Imai, but pretty, her chestnut hair was tied up in a bun, and looked wet, her eyes were that pretty liquid brown that seemed to go on forever. But she had a wall up, a dullness in her eyes.

"What?" he asked. Her gaze was beginning to make him uncomfortable. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm your partner stupid, we're raising a plastic baby together." She said. His eyes widened minutely. Girls did not insult him, it just wasn't done. His eyes hardened, narrowing to slits.

"So I have to spend this class looking at your ugly face huh?" he said. Beside him Luna giggled, he hated that girl. Mikan glared daggers at him.

"Believe me, I'm not thrilled by the prospect either, but we have no choice do we?" she shoved a piece of paper towards him with information about the baby, what it's name would be, what race, personality etc.

"My name is Mikan by the way." She said, filling out her name under the "Mother" section. Natsume didn't giver her his name, he simply wrote it under the "Father" Section.

"Natsume huh?" she said.

"Perfect name for an arrogant bastard." She said, folding her arms. Natsume's only response was a snort of disgust. When he looked up at her, he was surprised to find her grinning. He turned his head and spat, why the hell was he blushing?


	4. Round and Round

**Chapter Four**

**Round and Round**

_We are afflicted by fiction_

_Building a case for eviction, circling_

_Guarding a tower of ancients _

_Shooting down arrows of patience and patiently circling_

_Round and Round 

By, Imagine Dragons

OoOoOoOo

"Our baby is not being named 'Little Ugly Hyuga' I hiss, erasing the name, Natsume just folds his arms and smirks.

"Why? He looks just like you." He says, leaning his head back against the wall, I roll up the paper and whack him with it.

"Be serious! What do you think about…Ryouta?" I ask. Natsume rolls his eyes. I sigh in defeat.

Natsume has made this entire process very difficult, arguing with me for over a half an hour about how we should name the baby something insulting. Even after I let him choose the gender. I tap my pencil quietly on the paper.

"Katsuro" Natsume says quietly, I raise my eyebrows at him and he glares at me.

"What? I like that name." I nod and jot it down, smiling to myself.

He peers over my shoulder, then nods in approval and lays back, closing his eyes. I finish filling out the sheet and go back to doodling in my notebook, content to spend the rest of the period in silence. Luna Koizumi has different plans for this period however, she slams her notebook down over mine violently making me jump.

"Katsuro?" she sneers, showing her obviously chemically whitened teeth. Natsume opens one eye, and gives her a very obvious look of disgust.

"What a stupid name, your child is destined for the life of a tranny." She scoffs. She obviously didn't hear Natsume name it. I ignore her and turn to look at Natsume.

"When are we getting our plastic son?" Natsume shrugs his shoulders, keeping his eye on Luna who is quite obviously seething.

"Don't ignore me!" she shouts, drawing all of the attention towards her, I turn to her with a look of calm acceptance.

"Can you let me know when you're done screeching?" I ask, drumming my fingers on the desk. She raises her hand and my eyes widen, she's going to hit me, in the middle of class. I close my eyes in an involuntary flinch and wait for the pain, but it never comes.

When I open my eyes Natsume is standing over me with his hand wrapped around a very flustered Luna's wrist.

"N-Natsume?" her eyes are wide. I turn to my unexpected savior and he is glaring at her with undisguised hatred. He releases her and grabs my hand, barely giving me enough time to hand my paper in before he tows me out of the classroom.

OoOoOoOo

When we finally stop we're standing in the forest that surrounds the school, Natsume seems fine, but I am breathing heavily. I look up at him in wonder.

"Wh-why did you stop her?" I ask. He simply looks at me, with all of his old malice. I smile and shrug.

"At any rate, thank you." He sighs and sits against a tree, closing his eyes, I turn to head back to school, knowing that Luna is probably gushing to her friends that Natsume got up and held her hand.

"Wait." He says, so quietly I can barely hear him.

"Stay away from her, she's bad news." I turn to him and smile slightly.

"Thanks."


	5. Kill

**Chapter Five**

**Kill**

_So, go on love_

_Leave while there's still hope for escape _

_You've gotta take what you can these days _

_There's so much ahead _

_So much regret _

_Kill 

By, Jimmy Eat World 

OoOoOoOo

I chucked my backpack on the floor in my room and collapsed onto the bed. Today had been absolutely horrible, sure I had made two friends in Anna and Nonoko, but I had also made two enemies in Luna and Natsume. Though, apparently Natsume could show a nicer side too. I hadn't pegged him as the protective type.

I turned over and stared up at the ceiling, I wasn't looking forward to tomorrow, but them again, there was never really much of anything to look forward to at all anymore. Not since Grandpa died. I sighed and shut my eyes, I would nap until dinner, there was nothing else to do.

I was torn from my nap early when Mrs. Hijiri knocked on my bedroom door.

"Come in." I called, sitting up and combing my hair from my face. Mrs. Hijiri smiled at me.

"Can I ask a favor of you Mikan?" she said sweetly. Mrs. Hijiri was a typical Yamato Nadeshiko, the perfect housewife, delicate and kind, gentle and nurturing, I was lucky to have her as a foster mom.

"Sure." I swung off of the bed and padded over to her.

"We ran out of eggs, could you run to the store and get some for me?" she asked. I nodded and smiled, getting out of the house is just what I needed.

OoOoOoOo

The air outside was cold and refreshing, bright red leaves clustered in the trees, shining like fire in the waning sunlight. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"What do you mean Ruka? Other than the fact that she's an idiot, I didn't really see anything wrong with her." It was Natsume, without really thinking about it, I ducked behind some holly bushes. It wasn't too long before I saw them, and they made the horrible decision to stop right in front of my bush. _Why was I hiding anyways? _

"Serio is really interested in her for some reason, I don't know why, but he asked my father to do some digging, so of course, I did some digging too." I recognized the boy, Ruka, as the attractive blond boy who had been paired up with that Imai girl. He was even more attractive up close, he didn't have the same stunning good looks as Natsume, but his face was warm and gentle and kind, but right now his expression was pensive.

Natsume shoved his hands into his pockets; it was strange seeing him out of his school uniform. It was obvious he was well off, designer jeans and a leather jacket. Ruka dressed less tastefully, more like a high school boy. Ruka began to pace, with every step I was worried he would find me.

"She's in foster care right now, she's living with the Hijiri's, I'm pretty sure Serio has something to do with that." Said Ruka, Natsume looked tense; his eyes were darting left and right frantically.

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.

"Well, she is Yuka Azumi's daughter." Said Ruka, as if that would explain everything. Natsume quirked an eyebrow.

"The assassin?"


	6. Haunted

**Chapter Six**

**Haunted**

_You and I walk a fragile line _

_I have known it all this time _

_But I never thought I'd live to see it break _

_It's getting dark and it's all to quiet _

_And I can't trust anything now _

_And it's coming over you like it's all a big mistake_

_Haunted 

By, Taylor Swift 

OoOoOoOo

Before I could fully grasp what I was doing, I had stood up and was staring in disbelief at the two boys. My mother was _not _an Assassin, she was a drunk, it was what I had always been told, but then _how did they know her name? _The boys stared back at me, Natsume looked mildly annoyed and Ruka looked absolutely horrified.

"What are you doing here, ugly?" Asked Natsume. My face flushed and my mind raced to find an answer.

"I…You…My mom was _not_ an assassin." My breathing came out labored, my throat felt sore. The boy, Ruka, stepped cautiously towards me.

"Now calm down." He said, in an attempt to be soothing. I took a deep breath and cleared my mind, maybe it was all a big misunderstanding, maybe my mom just had a similar name to an assassin. I nodded.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I hid, I just heard you two talking…so I…"

"You decided to eavesdrop." Natsume's eyes were hard, I swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe it was none of your business?" he asked. I glared at him.

"Well seeing as how you guys were talking about _my mother, _I think it was at least partially my business." Ruka stepped forward and put up his hands as if he was trying to tame a wild animal.

"Calm down please, both of you." He shot Natsume a pointed look and then turned to smile at me.

"So you're Mikan Sakura?" he asked, he sounded kind. I folded my arms behind my back and nodded, he smiled wider.

"Natsume has told me so much about you." He said. Natsume snorted.

"I'm sure." I said reproachfully, shooting him a well deserved glare. He glared back at me.

"You never answered my question, what are you doing here?" he said each word slowly as if he was talking to a young child.

"If you have to know, which I doubt you do, I'm going to the store to pick up eggs for my foster mom." I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling very exposed as Natsume's eyes wandered down my body.

"Why are you still in your school uniform?" he asked, and I let out a breath that I didn't know I'd been holding.

"I took a nap as soon as I got home; I guess I forgot to change out of my uniform." I blushed and smoothed out my skirt self consciously.

"It suits you." Said Ruka, I turned even redder. He chuckled and offered me his hand.

"But I think you'd look just as nice in your casual clothes." This Ruka boy certainly had a way with words. Natsume snorted again and rolled his eyes.

"She'd look just as ridiculous." He motioned to my hair, which I had put up in pigtails once it dried.

"What kind of high school student still wears pigtails?" he grabbed the end of one and gave it a pull. I slapped his hand away.

"I do, leave me alone."

"Would you like us to walk you to the store?" asked Ruka.

"I have to pick up a few things myself, and I'd be happy to accompany you, Natsume as well, I'm sure." Natsume stared blankly ahead. I nodded slowly.

"Sure…" I looked nervously between them. Ruka clasped my hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. I turned about a billion shades of red, Natsume's eyes turned cold.

He grabbed me by the elbow and yanked me towards him, suddenly I was pressed against his…very (gulp) firm chest. Ruka let go of my hand and stared at Natsume with amusement. My mouth felt very dry, Natsume smelled…_nice. _I struggled away from him, and made a show of straightening out my skirt. Ruka grinned and leaned in close to whisper

"I think he likes you Mikan." I rolled my eyes. _That _was likely.

OoOoOoOo

I swallowed nervously as I rang my own doorbell. Ruka had insisted that Natsume walk me home because 'it was getting late.' And 'a girl shouldn't have to walk home alone.' Ruka himself had 'something to do'. I had expected Natsume to ditch me as soon as Ruka was out of sight. But he hadn't he had walked me all the way home, albeit very sulkily.

Mrs. Hijiri opened the door and smiled.

"Oh, Mikan what took you so…" she spotted Natsume and looked between the two of us, confusedly.

"You brought home a friend?" she asked. Natsume bowed respectfully.

"I'm Natsume Hyuga, ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you." I gaped at him, I didn't know that Natsume could be polite. Mrs. Hijiri smiled warmly at him and extended her hand.

"I'm Ruiko Hijiri. It's a pleasure to meet you, are you one of Mikan's friends from school?" Once again my mouth felt dry, what the hell was going on? Natsume nodded.

"Yes, we're partners in home economics." He said. Mrs. Hijiri nodded.

"Why don't you have dinner with us Hyuga-kun?" she said brightly. My mouth fell open. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…_what? _Natsume looked at me, then back at Mrs. Hijiri.

"I don't want to be a burden." He said. I looked at Mrs. Hijiri pleadingly. She laughed and opened the door wider.

"It's no trouble at all, I'm very happy that Mikan has made a new friend." She said. Natsume bowed again and stepped into the house. Mrs. Hijiri, patted my back as I stepped in after him.

"You two can hang out in Mikan's room until dinner is done." She said, taking the eggs from my hand. Natsume nodded, she bent down to whisper in my ear:

"Leave the door open, I hope I can trust you with him." My mouth fell open. She thought we were going to…? I nodded my head furiously. I looked at Natsume; he had obviously heard Mrs. Hijiri because he was stifling laughter.

I stalked to my bedroom and held the door open wide, Natsume sauntered in after me, looking critically at my walls.

"Pink? How suiting." He said, his voice dripping with condescension. I ran my palm over the smooth, creamy pink walls.

"I didn't choose the color; I haven't been living here for more than a month." I sat down on my bed and sighed. He took a seat on my office chair; he looked so out of place in my room.

"Why did you switch foster homes?" he asked, his voice sounded surprisingly gentle. I looked at him a moment before answering, searching his face for…for something. Finally I shrugged my shoulders and said:

"It's not that I didn't like my old foster home, but something always felt…wrong about it. Do you ever get that feeling? Like something is off? Every time my old Foster dad looked at me I just felt…I don't know, unclean."

Natsume rested his chin in his hands, he looked intense. I didn't know why I was pouring my heart out to him. Especially because I was pretty sure he hated me. he sighed.

"I can't say I know what you're talking about, but…some people do just have that creep factor." He looked at me thoughtfully, I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Yeah? Like you right?" I grinned at him and he rolled his eyes.

"You're the one having a baby with me."

"Not by choice!" I folded my arms.

"Why didn't you let Luna hit me earlier?" I asked, eyeing him thoughtfully. Natsume cocked his head to the side.

"Don't take it the wrong way, I wasn't protecting you, I was just trying to piss her off. I can't stand her." He said. I jumped when there was a knock on my doorframe. I looked up, and Yoichi, my foster brother was standing in the doorway looking shy. I smiled at him, but he glared fiercely at me.

"Uh…come in Yoichi." I said, he slipped in my room and settled himself on the floor. He and Natsume seemed to be having a stare off. Finally Yoichi broke into a big, sweet, little boy smile; one I had never seen on him before.

"I'm Yoichi Hijiri, who are you?" he asked. He was in awe of Natsume, I couldn't help but smile.

"Natsume Hyuga." Natsume was using that same, quasi-gentle tone he had used before with me.

"Yoichi gave me another glare before pointing at me.

"Are you and her going out?" he asked. I groaned and laid back on my bed. Natsume shook his head.

"What? You think I'd date someone like her?" he asked. Yoichi laughed, I sat up and glared at Natsume.

"Remember Natsume, you're having a _baby _with me.'


End file.
